Cigarette extinguisher



April 15,- 1958 .1. B. HINSON CIGARETTE EXTINGUISHER Filed Aug. 9, 1955 INVENTOR. i W E. Hhvsa/y United htates Patent CIGARETTE EXTINGUISHER Jay B. Hinson, Har'tsdale, N. Y.

Application August 9, 1955', Serial No. 527,224 2 Claims. (Cl. 131-256 This invention relates to a cigar'ette'extinguisher and is herein disclosed as embodied in an extinguisher in which the cigarette is extinguished by pressing it against a pyramidal piece of metal at the bottom of a funnelshaped member. Such devices usually include a spring mounting for either the funnel-shaped member or the pyramid.

Such devices have proved useful in the past, but have been open to objections of various kinds depending on the structure of the extinguisher.

In some extinguishers, the spring mounting was open to the pyramid or its mounting in such a way that the cigarette ashes or bits of tobacco or paper frequently clogged the spring.

Other forms of extinguishers especially designed to avoid this trouble contained springs mounted within shields, and the spring frequently bore against the shield with considerable friction so that a stronger spring was needed than would otherwise be necessary, and this stronger spring interfered with the easy operation of the extinguisher.

In almost any form of extinguisher ,of this sort, some or all of the parts were made of heavy metal and had to be cast or turned from brass or other metal bars, making the structure expensive. Moreover, the numerous parts which went into the extinguisher involved problems in assembling the extinguisher.

In addition to this, usually several parts were visible from the outside, with the result that each had to be finished with an expensive plating or other finish so that altogether, the extinguisher was relatively expensive for such a small device.

According to the present invention, the foregoing and other difficulties are overcome, and a simple device of few parts, easily assembled is provided, and the device is so designed that only a single part is normally visible from the outside, and, therefore, only that single part calls for a visually perfect finish. The form shown is especially adapted to be made of stamped and drawn metal although various parts may serve equally well if molded from suitable plastic, preferably thermo-setting plastic.

Moreover, the device of the present invention may be built out of very thin metal, adapted to be drawn, and the only part involving careful stamping may be a small brass part.

According to the present invention, the spring may be kept clear of surfaces which would normally tend to create friction because the helical spring tends to seat itself in the curved upper periphery of the funnel device, with the result that the curve holds the spring away from the walls of the funnel device, and yet the spring rests securely in the projecting tabs formed into ledges.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 shows the extinguisher in vertical central section together with a partial section of an ash tray upon which it may be mounted.

Patented Apr. 15, 1958 wardly toward the pyramidal member 11 when a cigarette is inserted in the funnel 10.

The sloping sides of the funnel 10 extend downwardly and inwardly from a peripheral arch or curve 12, which provides a fairly flat top and then turns down into the vertical cylindrical peripheral skirt or side 13 of the shell or sleeve of the extinguisher.

In the form shown, the sleeve 13 is indirectly and slidably supported on a separate bottom piece 14 and held against escaping from the bottom piece 14 by means of a turned over edge or tabs 15 at the bottom of the sleeve 13. The bottom piece 14 is attached to and supported by the pyramidal member 11. The member 11 is engaged in a centrally located aperture in a transverse cross piece 16, the cross piece being flat and having straight sides providing segmental openings l7 shown in Figs. 3 and 4, adapted to pass ashes downwardly into the ash tray 18. The cross piece 16 is an integral part of the member 14.

The bottom 14 carries at its periphery an integral upstanding cylindrical wall i9 which lies closely within the sleeve 13, but permits free sliding of the sleeve and carries prongs or tabs 29 cut out from the upper edge at several points at its periphery and bent to form ledges.

The tabs 20, in the form shown, carry a helical spring 21, which is held inwardly of the shell 13 by the upstanding members 22 between adjacent tabs 28, and the spring at its top thrusts against the bottom of the curve 112, so that the spring 21 stands clear of the sleeve 13 and of the funnel-shaped member 16.

To give the cross piece 1-6 the desired strength, and yet to employ thin metal therefor, it is shown with slightly turned edges 23, which give it the requisite stiffness.

The structure thus described enables a cigarette, held firmly while burning, to be manually pushed down into the funnel 149 and carry the funnel down until the cigarette strikes the pyramidal member 11, which is preferably of solid metal and may have a cone shaped curved surface. The manual thrust crushes the cigarette tip against the pyramidal member 11 while the funnel-shaped member, being a fractional size larger than the cigarette diameter, holds the cigarette compact and prevents it from spreading as shown in Fig. 2. This action crushes and smoothers the burning head of the cigarette and the pressure and squeeze action, as the members are brought together, extinguishes the cigarette almost instantly, allowing the ashes to fall down through the cutouts 17. The stub of the cigarette is left with a hard packed, crusty substance and there is practically no possibility that any embers remain to smoke or fume.

In the form shown, the falling ashes fall into the ash receiving tray 18, and that tray is adapted to support the structure on a central post 2 screwed into the bottom of the pyramidal member 11. y

it is found that the sleeve 1'3 and the bottom 14 and the parts attached to each of them may be satisfactorily made of aluminum or aluminum alloy, 0.015" to 0.018" thick, or stainless steel of like thickness. in many cases, it will be most economical to make the sleeve 13, including the funnel 1d of aluminum, which may be tumble polished for economy or anodized economically in attractive colors.

The bottom 14 and the upturned parts thereof may be of stamped brass of about the same thickness. This brass part is totally concealed, and, therefore, needs no expensive finishing.

The pyramidal member 11 may beheld in place above the bottom 14 if desired, by an adapter 26 surrounding the screw 24, said screw being threaded into this pyramidal member 11.

It will be noted that the retaining tabs 15 may be bent into the position shown in Fig. 1 as the last step in as sembling the extinguisher.

Having thus described an embodiment of the invention in some detail, what is claimed is: v

1. In an extinguisher a cylindrical outer shell, a turnedover extension of the shell forming a funnel within the shell, a sheet metal cylindrical support wholly within the shell and adapted to guide the shell so that the shell may be vertically slidable on the support, a coil spring lying within the shell and rising into the turned over portion above the funnel, peripheral brackets on the support supporting the lower portion of the spring, a cross piece forming part of the support, and a post midway of the cross piece supporting it from below.

2. In an extinguisher a cylindrical outer shell, a turnedover extension of the shell forming an open mouthed funnel within the shell, a cylindrical metal support wholly within the shell and adapted to guide the shell so that the shell may be vertically slidable on the support, a coil spring lying within the shell and rising into the turned over portion above the funnel and carrying the shell, peripheral brackets in the support supporting the spring, a post midway .of the cross piece supporting it from below, a conical extinguishing member holding the cross piece and the support and projecting into the open mouth when the funnel is depressed, and a turned over bottom tab on the shell underlying the support and holding the shell down against excessive upward push of the spring.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,972,896 Neahr Sept. 11, 1934 2,406,685 Hinson Aug. 27, 1946 2,607,354 Wilson Aug. 19, 1952 2,671,454 Williams Mar. 9, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 123,508 Great Britain Feb. 27, 1919 656,581 France Jan. 2, 1929 

